1920.^ PiECL.OL^TIOy OF LaND BY ACRICtXTTRAL MeaNS. 



793 



Claying was formerly used a great deal, but at the present 

 time the method is too expensive, as about 50 tons to the acre 

 would be required. The practice followed, therefore, is to 

 increase the organic matter. One method is to add farmyard 

 manure, as is done by the market gardeners in the Biggleswade 

 district. Crops are sold in the towns, and stable manure is 

 carried back from the towns to the market gardens and dug in 

 the sandy soil. Land which would otherwise be poor is thus 

 made to produce heavy crops. The method is only feasible 

 in the case of market gardens, and is too expensive for ordinaiy 

 agricultural adoption. 



The agricultural method is to run sheep over crops of swedes, 

 rape and vetches, the sheep being confined within hurdles . 

 In this case the expense of cartage is avoided, since there 

 is no need to cany the manure to the soil. The Lower 

 Greensand in SuiTey and Sussex and other parts have been 

 improved in this way. The practice is carried out in winter, 

 because the soil may be too hot for the sheep in summer. 



A further agricultural practice in reclaiming waste sand is 

 that of sTeen manuring; lucerne, vetches, lupins, &c.. are 

 grown and ploughed in. either whole or with the tops previously 

 cut off. and used for stock feeding. This method has been 

 adopted at both Woburn and Eothamsted. but it has the dis- 

 advantage that if the whole of the gTeen crop is ploughed in 

 no money return is obtained for that season. The practice, 

 therefore, usually resolves itself into the top being cut or fed and 

 the rest ploughed in. This means, of com'se. that the process of 

 reclamation is much slower. The making of the crop into 

 silage prevents any waste in its use for feeding to animals. 

 A mixture much in vogue is oats and tares. The first 

 crop on waste land mav be low. but as the process is 

 repeated in successive years with a suitable fertiliser scheme, 

 the improvement becomes more and more marked. Suitable 

 crops to follow the green manuring are potatoes, can'ots, 

 barley, rye. kidney vetch and lucerae. 



Chalky Soils. — The soil collects in the bottom land, but 

 becomes thin on the higher land. The method adopted is to 

 cultivate the lower parts of such areas and to improve the 

 herbage on the higher land by the use of basic slag. 



Clay Soils. — Rain makes such soils nearly impassable for 

 horses and implements, which in some cases can only be usefully 

 employed on the land for about 50 days in the year. Formerly. 



